According to The Washington Post, the Trump administration has floated a proposal that would limit high-tech exports to China.
Under the proposal, artificial intelligence (AI), robots, quantum computing, image recognition and self-driving tech would all be prohibited from being exported to China. This would include the tech that drives smartphone assistants, such as Siri.
“If you think about the range of products this potentially implicates, that’s massive. This is either the opening of a big negotiation with the industry and the public or a bit of a cry for help in scoping these regulations,” R. David Edelman, the director of the Project on Technology, the Economy, & National Security at MIT, told The Washington Post.
At the very least, the administration seems intent on extending the restrictions to those countries that are already subject to U.S. arms embargoes, including China.
Needless to say, industry experts are not happy with the proposal. In a separate report by The Washington Post, individuals with the National Venture Capital Association expressed concern about how effective these proposed restrictions would be, versus the damage they would cause.
“Almost everything is using AI in one way or another,” said Jeff Farrah, NVCA’s general counsel. “So then is everything subject to export controls?”
Farrah continued: “There’s not a lot of faith from people in the industry that the government will get this right.”